Hogwarts: My name is the Unforgivable Curse...

Chapter 144 "Betrayal" Horcrux

"impossible!!"

Tom Riddle's body suddenly became ethereal, almost losing its physical existence in shock.

"How could he possibly know my secret, know that I'm a 'fragment'?!"

Tom was already prepared that Ken likely knew about the "diary." But when the word "pieces" came out of his mouth, a sense of being seen through struck him hard.

Even though he no longer needed to breathe, his chest heaved violently involuntarily: "Who is he? Who is he?!"

"Was my initial guess about him wrong?"

"Not only that..."

A flicker of fear, unnoticed even by himself, flashed in Tom's illusory eyes: "He's turned the tables on the basilisk. He orchestrated all the attacks these past few days, his aim being to lure me here, and I almost fell right into his trap..."

All he wanted to do at that moment was escape, no longer caring about clearing out the Mudbloods or Harry Potter, as long as he could get as far away from that eerie "Ken" as possible!

"However, besides the diary, he also mentioned a 'ring' and a 'crown'... What are those?"

"Did the original creator make other Horcruxes? But aren't I already one of them?"

"One Horcrux is enough for immortality, so why would the original body create extra Horcruxes?"

A brief moment of doubt made him hesitate, and in that instant, Ken's devilishly seductive voice hissed into his ears again—

"The most likely candidate is the Crown, since he's always at the school, and as a Ravenclaw who enhances wisdom, it wouldn't be surprising if he came up with these schemes... But the diary isn't out of the question either, after all, he was the one tasked with purging the Mudbloods..."

"No, it should be more likely a diary. As a Horcrux created only before me, the Crown should know what state its original form has become, and it shouldn't be stopping my plans..."

"What?"

Tom Riddell paused for a moment—the sheer volume of information in those words had momentarily stunned him.

When he came to his senses and realized what "Ken" was talking about, he was frozen in place by a bizarre sense of absurdity, completely stunned.

"Does he mean... that the main body also created many Horcruxes?"

"And he's also one of the original's Horcruxes?!"

Tom blinked, instinctively wanting to dismiss this absurd statement. But after much difficult thought, he despairingly realized that he was actually gradually accepting this reality…

"No wonder...no wonder I felt a blood connection just now, no wonder he could control the snake monster with his Parseltongue..."

He thought blankly, "And this also explains how he was able to defeat the original body and knew about the secret chamber and the basilisk from the beginning. My initial deduction about him was completely wrong, that damned Lucius..."

But why?

"Why would a Horcrux, which is the original body, plot against the original body, causing him to be sealed away by Dumbledore? And why did he kill the Basilisk?!"

A brief moment of shock was followed by an even more intense rage—as a part of the original body, he was born with unparalleled loyalty to it, and even decades after leaving, he had not forgotten the mission entrusted to him. Therefore, upon hearing that his great original body had been betrayed by his own Horcrux, the sense of absurdity and anger he felt even surpassed the day he heard of the original body's defeat…

"This is the third time in three days that I've sat here repeating the same things. You must be tired of hearing it by now, right? I hope that guy who ruined my plans will sneak over here this time and hear exactly what I'm saying..."

Ken's voice came again, and the basilisk in the pipe listened calmly to his soliloquy without showing the slightest impatience: "Those early Horcruxes will definitely be angry at my actions, thinking that I have betrayed my original self. But the Crown and the others can probably understand me, because he also knows what the original self has become... He plans to divide his soul into seven pieces."

Seven dollars?!

Tom was startled—weren't you supposed to have immortality if you only had one Horcrux?!

"After the first split of the soul, that is, after the diary was created,"

Ken's voice held a hint of helplessness and weariness: "His original idea seemed somewhat obsessive. He believed that 'seven' was a magical number, so he planned to divide his soul into seven pieces to create six Horcruxes. After the diary, he collected precious items from all over to turn into his Horcruxes, which resulted in the Ravenclaw tiara, the Slytherin locket, the Gaunt family ring..."

"And finally, me, the Hufflepuff Cup."

In the classroom, Ken, who was sitting leisurely, slowly took out an exquisite gold cup from his pocket and raised it towards the door, as if he were offering a toast.

"The main body... found the relics of the four founders and even turned them into Horcruxes?"

Tom Riddle felt a sense of unease amidst his pride, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what was wrong.

"This should have been a cause for celebration, as more Horcruxes meant more secure immortality. Even if one or two Horcruxes were destroyed by the enemy, the life of the original body would still remain in the world... But unfortunately, things didn't go as planned."

Ken's heavy voice rang out again: "As the number of times his soul was split increased, the original body's wisdom also declined. He became impatient, incapable of restraint, and too lazy to win people's hearts, gradually turning into a violent maniac who only knew how to act rashly... And he himself was completely unaware of this problem. It was only after I reviewed my life after being split away that I discovered this terrifying fact."

"As expected, before the sixth Horcrux could even be born, the original body was tricked and lost its physical form—surely no one really believed that a newborn baby could defeat the powerful original body, right? I've figured it out; the baby was just bait. What truly defeated the original body was a powerful and ancient magic..."

"So...that's how it is?"

Tom agreed with this explanation—he had never been able to accept the reality that a great being could be defeated by a mere infant. However, if it was due to a decline in intelligence leading to being outmaneuvered, then that would make sense.

However, this is still not a reason for a Horcrux to betray its original owner!

As he angrily thought this, Ken's voice still didn't stop:

"With the five of us here, the original body naturally couldn't die. As for where he went in the following ten years, I don't know... but what I can confirm is that the original body, having lost its mind and reason, is very dangerous and won't go far."

"And the facts proved my guess—the real body infiltrated Hogwarts last year, at his most vulnerable moment, at great risk. Guess why?"

Ken's voice sounded like it was being squeezed out through clenched teeth, filled with venomous rage: "An obvious trap, a trap even a first-grader could spot! Dumbledore left the Philosopher's Stone at the school, without even carrying it with him! And then he just barged in headfirst, leaving himself no way out!!"

He paused, probably taking a deep breath, before his tone became solemn again: "Now you understand, right? As the soul weapon of the original body, we can do far more than just maintain the original body's life; we should do everything in our power to help the original body and fill its gaps. And obviously, the best way to help the original body regain its mind and reason is, of course, to re-merge its soul!"

(End of this chapter)